Bernie and the Bessledorf Ghost

By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor   ISBN 068931499X

For readers, especially tweens, this is a wonderfully comfortable read.  Lovers of mysteries will be pleased with the good, steady pace of the plot and the solution to this mystery will be quite touching and make somewhat sense to a number of the readers whether they be tweens or just general readers.

There is always something in this book to hold the interest of the reader be it the maneuvering and sleuthing activities of Bernie, the main character, or the supportive efforts of Bernie’s eccentric family as everyone in the family bands together to bring an end to the mystery of the nightly re-appearance of a ghostly boy, who coincidently appears to share Bernie’s age, eleven years.

Bernie’s mother, an imaginative person possibly due to the fact that she is a romance writer, leaps to the immediate conclusion that this boy wants to take Bernie away.  With this motivation, Bernie immediately gains his mother’s support and therefore also his father’s in the nightly mystery activities that take over the entire household and even the hotel occupants.  Readers who engage in a good amount of library use may especially get a laugh at Bernie’s imaginative use of his local library.  Bernie takes library use seriously.

While this work is part of a series of books that feature Bernie and his family, the Magruders, this work can be enjoyed on its own by readers who are totally new to this wonderfully entertaining family circle and tweens will be able to identify with the initiative efforts that Bernie, the main character, puts into this mystery solving.

Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds

By David A. Cam

1980 ISBN 0670200395

We join Cam Jansen, as she and her friend Eric commence their spring vacation with a visit to the mall.  It may be time off from school but there is never time off for this sleuth when Cam and Eric find that they have been sitting right in the vicinity of an actual jewelry store robbery and all they were trying to do is baby-sit Eric’s baby brother, Howie.  Eric’s mother had left Eric in charge of Howie while she shopped with the remainder of Eric’s siblings, twin sisters.  In solving this robbery, the police are greatly puzzled when the person who seemed the culprit is found with no jewels on his person and no opportunity of disposing of the evidence.

As related in previous episodes, Cam has the advantage of possessing in her brain, the equivalent of a traveling surveillance but she actually still has to also use her detective’s reasoning and logical strategies for any mystery solving.  It is when Cam and Eric follow up on the missing facts and the original suspect, that they are able to solve this robbery.  The amount of action in this book is enough to keep the interest of the readers and most likely keep them as fans.  While Cam and Eric place themselves in danger fortunately they receive the proper amount of assistance and live to tell the tale.  Hopefully readers will not follow their risky example and risk their safety in any similar situations.  The illustrator, Susanna Natti continues to provide us with good insight into the characters and the action of the story.  We are given enough details to keep our interest in the story.  We get to know the characters well with the use of the illustrations.  Cam Jansen continues to be fun for all her readers.

The Cat Who Went To Heaven

By Coatsworth, Elizabeth. ISBN 9780027197105






This is the story of a cat who came to live in the household of a struggling Japanese artist and in the end brought him great luck. At the time that the cat enters the picture, the artist and his housekeeper barely have anything to eat but that does not stop the housekeeper from doing an illogical thing. She brings home another mouth to feed, the cat. The artist who knows better than to go along with this action is nevertheless so kind hearted that the cat stays. With the introduction of the cat into this household it seems that there is a change in the fortunes of this household. The artist is suddenly given an important commission to paint a portrait of Buddha by the local temple. While the artist commences to create his painting carefully and thoughtfully, the cat who may have had something to do with the reversal of fortune for this household, sticks by close to the artist almost begging to be included in the commissioned work. That a cat be included in a portrait of Buddha seems an insurmountable obstacle in that it is was believed that the cat along of all animals refused to accept the teachings of Buddha. The reader will no doubt be profoundly touched by the answer to the question as whether the cat will get his wish. This is a beautifully written and illustrated work. The pictures bring the work of the artist to us, a living canvas as the painting grows and grows. Whoever introduces this book to children does them a profound favor.

Ecology Researches for Tweens

Non fiction collection assignment

View more presentations from 2079twentyseventynine.

The Hobbit

By J.R.R. Tolkien
DVD V0371

We are invited to visit or revisit Middle Earth in another media so we may discover a fantastic place beyond our ordinary world.  Creatures such as hobbits, goblins and dwarfs populate the world depicted in this story.  Audiences of all ages including those of tween age will be fascinated with the differences in habits and customs they will be presented with in either reading this story or viewing it.

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz Motion Picture DVD

ISBN 1419807730

For our continued pleasure we are presented (in the DVD format) with the adventures of Dorothy and her companions, Toto her dog, and Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion as they journey in the Land of Oz, all four with their individual goals.  This film has never fallen out of favor with audiences and in fact support for it has increased over the years.  With a heroine that has always appeared to be in the tween age range this is a work that would be a natural for this audience.

When You Reach Me

 

By Rebecca Stead

9780385737425

In this book, awarded the 2010 Newbery Award, our main character is Miranda a sixth grader who presents the reader with a good representation of the present day life style of many young people around us.  Yes, Miranda is a Latchkey Kid living with her mom in New York City.  Miranda’s father is not in the picture.

Miranda and her next door neighbor, Sal, another sixth grader, negotiate their way every day back and forth to school past the homeless, in particular one man who sleeps at night under the mailbox, and the older youths who hang around and look menacing to the passing Miranda.  Miranda and her mother, a paralegal, have their dreams for a possible financial windfall should Miranda’s mom be successful on a game show.  The preparation for this game show has become a family project with even Richard, mom’s boyfriend, taking part by lending his support also.

Early in this story Miranda is presented with the challenge of trying to determine the identity of the sender of notes that are coming her way in mysterious methods.  These notes convey the baffling message that the writer will be coming to save the life of a friend of Miranda’s but that Miranda must write back to the writer of these notes.  For almost the entire length of the book the identity of the note sender is unclear.  However the reader to who takes note of Miranda’s interest in time travel will consider that the final turn of this book makes more sense.